Sunday morning gospel: The Statesmen with Hovie Lister: Stop, Look and Listen for the Lord

For years, I've been seeing the words "with Hovie Lister" on LPs by the Statesmen Quartet, not knowing who Hovie Lister was.  Seriously.  What can I say?  Well, Hovie was simply the man who formed the Statesmen in 1948 and who played the extraordinary piano accompaniments we hear on this disc (Stop, Look and Listen for the Lord--RCA Camden CAL 663; 1962).  That's all.  Well, half of the extraordinary accompaniments, at least--the label lists him as present on six of the twelve tracks.  Not sure why he's not on all of them, but half is much better than none.  The singing is possibly the most virtuoso southern quartet singing to be heard anywhere--at times, it's as astonishing as the keyboard work.  Here's Wikipedia's entry on the group, and despite the usual "This article needs additional citations for verification" template at the top of the piece, I suspect the info is reliable.  Wikipedia is good on stuff like this.  In the realm who fought what battle, who played banjo in which group, who starred in what season of what show, birth and death dates for presidents, and stuff like that, the joint is as good as any other source.  Anything beyond that, consult an expert.  Experts are all over cyberspace.

And fabulous southern quartet singing is all over this 1962 RCA Camden LP, lovingly restored by me.  I could say "lovingly declicked," but "restored" sounds so much more official.  I featured what is very possibly the best of today's offerings--1959's Get Thee Behind Me, Satan--back in January, ripped from my 45 rpm copy, but I'm happy to say the sound is much better here.  Googling, I was able to find the release dates for all but two of today's twelve tracks, and I put the years after the titles in the track list.  (Update: Buster has supplied those two dates.  Thanks, Buster!)  The latest year I found was 1959, just three years before this budget LP.  Such a quick turnover, reissue-wise, says something about the less than unlimited spending power of the gospel audience.  As far as I know, gospel, unlike rock, never became big-money stuff.  And rock is treated with way more respect in the media. Gosh, you don't think that has anything to do with the dough it rakes in?






LINK: Stop, Look and Listen for the Lord






Stop, Look and Listen for the Lord (1957), with Hovie Lister
What a Happy Day (1958)
Get Thee Behind Me, Satan (1959), with Hovie Lister
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands (1958)
Until You Find the Lord (1959), with Hovie Lister
Love Never Fails, with Hovie Lister (1956)
This Ole House (1954)
At the Roll Call (1958)
Until Tomorrow (1958)
My God Won't Ever Let Me Down (1958)
God is God (1957), with Hovie Lister
God Bless You, Go with God (1959), with Hovie Lister


Lee